Device for indicating when the contents of containers have been nearly exhausted



A. HERRING ETAL DEVICE FOR INDICATING WHEN THE CONTENTS OF CONTAINERS HAVE BEEN NEARLY EXHAUSTED March 9, 1954 Filed Jan. 21, 1953 71 M? 7 4 IORNEY Patented Mar. 9, 1954 DEVICE FOR INDICATING WHEN THE. CON- TENTS OF CONTAINERS HAVE BEEN NEARLY EXHAUSTED Arthur Herring and Kurt Bauer, Philadelphia, Pa. Application January 21, 1953, Serial No. 332,282

3 Claims. (01. l e-n8) This invention relates to an indicating means and it particularly relates to an indicating means for substances packed under pressure in a container, whereby it provides an indication that the substance is almost used up.

Many different kinds of substances are packed under pressure today, such as whipped cream, shaving cream, deodorants, etc. These substances may be of the fluid type, either liquid or gaseous, or they may be of the powdered, solid will be ejected.

when needed.

empty.

contents of a container.

easily held within a container.

effective in operation.

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of a container showing the indicating device therein, the indicating device also being shown in section.

Fig. 2 is an elevational view of the indicating device.

Referring now in greater detail to the drawing wherein similar reference characters refer to similarparts, we show a container A and an indicating means B within the container. The container A may be constructed of metal, plastic,

10 type. In any event, when the nozzle of the conor the like, but is here illustrated as a metal tainer is actuated to open the interior of the concan having a Cylindrical side Well In and D and tainer to atmosphere, the pressurized substance bottom Walls 12 and A spout 5 is provided at the top of the can and this spout is adapted Gne of the problems in using the aforemen- 15 130 be covered y a p tioned containers having substances under pres- Within the can is a substance 0 under p sure, is the fact that th opening i t th sure. The substance here is illustrated as tainer is generally minute and, even then, is Whipped Cream alt oug a Variety Of other 511bopen only long enough to allow th substance t stances may be used, either fluid or comminuted be ejected. It is, therefore, dim lt t esoersolids. Also within the can under the surface of tain when the contents of the container are althe Whipped r am s a apsu B- The ap most exhausted, so that n may bt new B is here illustrated as a spherical container 22, container of the substance to have it on hand but this Container may be 0f y desired p An opening 24 is formed in the container 22 and This invention was conceived to solve the above 25 this Opening is sealed y a t diaphragm problem by providing a mean t color t membrane 26. Within the container 22 is held stance when the container is nearly empty. In a substance 28 under pressure Which y b this way, if one is using a whipped cream coneither of a Colored nature Which, When tainer, and the Whipped cream suddenly comes leased from the container 22, will react with the o t pink, or h t th color is desired, t 30 contents of the container A to generate a paruser will realize that the container is nearly tieulel e010r- This Coloring at ial may be any one of a variety of harmless coloring materials, It is, therefore, one object of our invention to Such as Vegetables y 0 the eprovide a means withi a container t t W111 Ordinarily, when the substance 20 in container automatically indicate the near exhaustion of the A is present in Sufficieht quantity, its P e on one side of the membrane 26 will counterbalance Another object of ur i ti is t provide an the pressure of the substance 28 on the other side indicating means which is pressure-actuated. of the membrane- HOWeVeI': when Sumeieht of Another object of our invention is t provide the substance 20 has been removed from the can, a means to indicate th near exhaustion of the 40 the pressure on the inside of the container 22 will contents of a container by coloring the contents. be greater than the pressure on the Outside, and Another object of our invention is to provide an the membrane 25 will be ruptured causing an indicating means 'hich i imple compa t, and outflow Of the coloring material into the can A. When the container 22 has been filled with Other objects of our invention are to provide the eeloring material 23, and the membrane 6 an improved device of the character described, pla d w thin the opening 2 t s pp d so that that is easily and economically produced, which the p ssu Within th container 2 Will not be is sturdy in construction, and which is highly disrupted. When this is inserted inside of the container l0, then the capping member is re- With the above and related objects in view; moved. This does n t pr s nt a d fli u t p l m our invention consists in the details of construcand the indicating container B is readily hantion and combination of parts, as will be more dled. fully understood from the following description, Although our invention has been described in when read in conjunction with the accompanyconsiderable detail, such description is intended ing drawing in which:

as being illustrative rather than limiting, since the invention may be variously embodied, and the scope of the invention is to be determined as claimed.

We claim as our invention:

1. In combination, a container for substances under pressure, and an indicating means within said container, said indicating means comprising a receptacle having coloring matter therein, said receptacle being adapted to retain said coloring matter when the pressure of the contents of said container is above a predetermined level, and to release said coloring matter when the pressure of said contents is below said predetermined level.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said coloring matter is adapted to be retained with said receptacle by the pressure of the contents of said container.

3. The combination of claim 1 wherein said receptacle is provided with an opening and a mem- 10 tainer.

ARTHUR HERRING. KURT BAUER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,004,502 Fieberling June 11, 1935 2,407,945 Bennett Sept. 17, 1946 

